The business process paradigm was first introduced in a rigorous form by Rummler and Brache in the late 1980's, and was increasingly popularized by authors such as Michael Hammer, and a wide range of business consultants, during the 1990's. The terms “process redesign” or “process reengineering” have been typically used to denote the explicit establishment of processes that are optimized for specific business requirements. It should be understood that although the modifier “business” may be applied to the term “process” herein, processes are relevant to, and may apply to, non-business organizations or institutions, as well as individuals.
Business processes can be broadly defined as a set of activities that collectively perform a business function. The activities within a process are typically performed in a specific sequence, with the sequence of activities subsequent to any specified activity being potentially dependent on conditions and decisions taken at the previous activity step.
The prior art associated with process design constitutes developing processes that are optimized for current business conditions, while attempting to build in enough flexibility in the design of the process for the process to remain effective if business conditions change within a limited range over time. Training of individuals performing tasks within processes is often a mixture of formalized training, classroom and/or on-line training, as well as on-the-job experience. In general, however, the current process paradigm is not one of adaptive processes; that is, processes that can effectively change as business conditions change without significant, explicit human redesign efforts, and processes that adapt to the ongoing learning needs, and more generally, the preferences or interests, of individual participants in the processes. Specifically, the current process paradigm does not have a built-in learning mechanism, resulting in a significant penalty in efficiency and effectiveness.